Could Spiritual Travel Be the Ultimate Hack for Letting Go?

Could Spiritual Travel Be The Ultimate Hack for Letting Go?

If someone asked me what’s the ultimate hack for letting go, I would say spiritual travel every single time. That’s been my passion for over twenty years and in today’s podcast, I am going to give you the inside track on: 

how spiritual travel can help you let go

and what to do once you’ve let go

But first, it’s the season of gratitude and I want to pause to say thanks to Lanvi for the great podcast review. Reviews are the lifeblood of a podcast.

It helps the ranking so that more people can find me, so they are very much appreciated. If you want to help out, you can go to the podcast website at letitgonow.net and hit the review button at the bottom of the page. 

I’ve also added a nifty little feature that allows you to comment on the podcast at the very moment that something provokes the comment.

So, it’s an audio comment. For example, if I say something you agree with, don’t agree with, or want to add a perspective that I didn’t touch on, if you go to the show notes, you will see a link that says, “Leave me a comment.”

Hit that and it will take you to my galas page where you can do that. I prefer a two-way conversation, don’t you? So, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I listen to them all.

I believe that life happens for you, not to you.

And everything in my life has lined up perfectly to bring me right where I am. It’s crazy. I never could have designed it any better, but spiritual travel was definitely the first step, or at least a major step, in that direction.

I’ve always had wild wanderlust and wanted to see the world. It’s in my palm and my astrology.

When I was about 8 and people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, it wasn’t a teacher or nurse like a lot of little girls. I wanted to be an interpreter for the UN because my little 8-year-old mind couldn’t think of a way that someone like me, who wanted to see the world and needed to learn a lot of languages, could actually turn that into a job. 

When I was a young adult, I worked for an airline. We got free to very low cost travel, and I would go everywhere.

I have seen 46 of the 50 states and started out going to the Caribbean every winter. The beautiful tropical beaches are unparalleled. I started branching out and hit Spain, Gibraltar, and Morocco, then Egypt.

Egypt was a bumble. It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t on my list. I was working a ton and needed a break. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing and I was a belly dancer at the time, so I thought I wanted to go to the Middle East.

I wanted to do the safe thing, but I didn’t want to follow the crowd, so I was looking at exotic locations, but Egypt was just too easy and affordable to pass up. It was a no brainer for someone who didn’t want to plan, so I ended up in Egypt.

From the time my feet hit the ground, I was in absolute heaven. It was a delight to the senses, and I mean all the senses. I was overstimulated in every possible way - the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. 

Everything was different and exotic. You see, when you go on a spiritual adventure, you leave behind your job, your family, your friends, your home, your culture, and everything that makes you you. You just strip it all away.

And then the pressure of being away from your comfort zone and having to think of your feet with all the freedom can expand you or break you - or both. And I think we all need to be broken open now and then. It keeps us growing.

And that’s exactly what happened. Spiritual travel shows you who you are, what you need, and how you need to grow. It’s like being resurrected.

That trip brought me back to life. It filled me with enthusiasm, appreciation, love, passion, curiosity. It showed me all those things were inside and it set it all on fire. 

I think some of us are afraid of being on fire. I’m not quite afraid of it, but my set point is super chill.

I don’t get excited about things, and there were so many things in Egypt that were scary, new, irritating, and death defying - if you’ve ever been in a Cairo taxi, you know what I mean.

There was no way to keep that anger and fire inside. It erupted, and I used it to create, breathe, laugh, and love.

Everywhere you go, the vendors are calling out to you. “Hey, lady, lady!” If you turn and look back, they will say, “You dropped something…. my heart.”

And in the blink of an eye, your emotions go from one thing to another. 

And the guys have the most expressive eyes. Egypt is a country where men and women are segregated.

Guys don’t just get to casually talk to women unless they’re tourists, so they develop this way of speaking with their eyes.

They can convey so much with their eyes. They make love to you with their eyes, and I had heard of that, but never experienced it until I was there.

That gave a whole new meaning to communication and made me think so much about the power of the gaze and how we’re always communicating with our faces. 

It helped me to experience connection in a non-physical way. Some of those glances were far more intimate than touching could ever be. Some of them were soul connecting. And some of them were violating. So, permission and boundaries are always a good thing when you are in someone’s space, mind, and soul that closely.

Speaking of boundaries, Cairo is liminal space. The boundaries are very blurry there. I’m talking boundaries between rich and poor, alive and dead, now and then - all boundaries. For example, I was a belly dancer when I went on that first trip and I wanted to see belly dancers, so I go to this five-star hotel to see the hottest dancer in the world. 

In America, if you go into a five star restaurant at the beach, in many places, you can be there with shorts on. I didn’t grow up that way. That just strikes me as some kinda wrong. It’s the same at the opera or the theater, but in Egypt, they still have old school standards. So, I dressed for the occasion, and I am so glad I did!

The glare from the bling was blinding. So, I’m sitting there in this blinged out dining room of not more than two hundred people and this singer comes on. He’s pretty close. It’s a small dining room. And he invites a couple of young girls on stage with him. They dance with him a little, and then he invites me up. I wave him off like, “Yeah, no thanks.” I was still really shy then.

Later, I find out that he’s one of the biggest pop stars in the Middle East. It was like being asked to come on stage with Elvis and I said no. (laugh) Trust me, I’ve never made that mistake again. I was asked again on that actual trip to come on stage with the number #2 most famous dancer in Egypt and I did get up on stage with her.

But anyway, you could never do that here. The line between rich and real people is, well, non-existent. The celebrities are real people. You see them. They interact with you like real people. 

I was in the suq one day shopping for belly dance costumes and turned a corner and there was Hossam Ramzy. Now for those of you who don’t know, Hossam is a world famous drummer. He’s played with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Gipsy Kings, Peter Gabriel, Anne Dudley, and Jay Z. It was so weird to just walk up and say, “Hey, Hossam!” I mean, that would never happen here. The elite just live in a different stratosphere in the west. 

Now, I knew Hossam before that, but still. I wasn’t expecting to see him there having tea with the boutique owner, you know what I’m saying.

Anyway, back to the hotel. So, we’re leaving the hotel after the belly dance show, and I see people sleeping on the cold concrete in rags. In America, the poor are typically in certain parts of town where people with money never see them. In Egypt, everybody mingles with everybody in a way. Society is very classist, but people walk the same streets.

So, we’re walking past this woman and her kids who are sleeping on the cold concrete, and the women that I am with begin crying and pulling out their purses to give the poor woman money. The taxi driver, who is waiting for us, waves the poor woman and her kids off and says, “Don’t worry about them. They are finished!” 

We were like, “Finished?” I didn’t know what he was talking about. I wasn’t sure if he was saying “I have waved her off so you don’t have to be bothered with her” or if he was saying, “She has no chance of survival anyway so it’s not worth your while to help her.” We were all really disturbed by that.

But that’s one of the things that I think makes spiritual travel so fascinating. Death is always a feature and we never feel so alive as when death is near. That’s why dare devils skydive and rock climb. That’s why people with near-death experiences can change their entire lives afterward. I think it’s why some people who are always in crisis like drama more than they like wellness. It feels alive.

With every experience on that trip, I was always on the edge of something. The edge of sleeping and waking, living and dying, loving and hating. Like in any third world country, the vendors harass you. They want to make a sale, and they want to make the best sale for them. I am not a shopper at all, and I can think of nothing worse than spending an hour bargaining for something - even if it’s something I want. So by the end of the trip, I have had it up to my eyeballs with the harassment. I am full of rage at this point and just want to be left alone. So, that is percolating.

The land also is this liminal blend of masculine and feminine, young and old. Modern Cairo is very masculine. It’s very busy, polluted, and full of people going about their business. The ancient energy can also be felt and it’s feminine, slow, mysterious, and timeless. And they are both really strong and intense. They are both bursting all around you and within you. It’s so hard to separate anything from there. Everything just is, and it’s intense.

I have never considered myself a very feminine woman. I absolutely think like a guy. I am a tomboy, and have never been into girly things, but I found my inner female on that trip. Egypt watered the feminine seeds that lived inside of me and helped them to blossom.

People have the wrong idea about females in Egypt. They may hide under tons of cloth, but trust that they have power. It’s just a different kind of power. And despite not showing an ounce of skin, they know how to be sexy. If you’ve ever seen one of the black shrouded figures with the folds of her dress tucked just so, that it accentuates her  bum as she’s walking with a sway that rivals Marilyn Monroe’s, you know what I am talking about.

The women are sexy. The men may have their eyes, but the women have their swagger. Egyptian women have a sexy confidence that I don’t see in American women. Their hips move. And once I got into a conversation with a handful of people about what it means to have sex appeal. For me, it’s not about having a fit body, although I admire that as much as the next person.

It’s about confidence. Confidence that shows in your gaze, your conversation, and the way your body moves. If your body is stiff and tight, it has no confidence. It’s not ready or supple. If your hips don’t move - and I mean and guy or a girl - the energy doesn’t flow through the pelvic area easily and it shows restriction in your vitals. 

Guys don’t have a womb, but we all have a pelvic area, and this is where the seed of life comes from and where it’s incubated. if this isn’t juicy and flowing, there is no sex appeal. This ripples out into all areas of your life and gives it juice. It gives you the ability to appreciate the sunrise, to write poetry or at least be inspired enough by beauty to want to write it even if you can’t capture it in words. Sex appeal gives you desire. Desire is the fire of life that leads to curiosity, creativity, and birthing new things. 

Egypt is so fertile. The Nile once fed the world. So, if you are in need of juices, it’s a great place to rejuvenate.

That trip was definitely the start of my getting to know my femininity. I began to explore what it means to be female and the power of feminine energy. A lot of feminists think it’s about out manning a man, or being the equal of a man. It’s not. It’s being the compliment. 

That’s one reason why things are so out of balance. Women are men now. We have to be because it’s every person for himself. We don’t have intact families or communities. Women have to be the providers and protectors because we can’t trust our males to do that for us. Since we have to do that, we aren’t able to stand in our femininity well. We’re spread too thin. And everyone suffers. The family suffers. We can’t have balance if we can’t rely on each other. Nobody can be everything.

I was talking to a single parent client about how hard it is to do everything alone. I totally agree with her. People aren’t meant to be alone. We’re tribal. And single parents are having to be the whole tribe for their kids and themselves and that’s a very heavy load.

It’s not that way in Egypt - at least not what I saw. Islam makes sure that men take care of their wives and children. I’m sure some people don’t, but the social and religious structure is set up so that that is the expectation and the norm. You can’t get married until you can support a wife and family. That’s what I saw.

The first time I went to Egypt, we went to two weddings. Mind you, I didn’t know a soul when the plane touched down - other than Hossam Ramzy and my costume supplier, and we were acquaintances, not friends. And we were invited to I think 3 weddings, but only had time to go to two. Are you getting the idea how friendly people are and how open and willing they are to love?

So, one wedding was at the invitation of my costume supplier. It was a five-star hotel wedding. It was totally blinged out and huge. It was so loud and amazing. It was a celebration of life, a contract and promise to build a future and a family together, and it was witnessed and celebrated by tons of people.

The second wedding was a street wedding in Khan el Khalili. Anyone could actually come, but we were invited and were up front with the bride and groom. It was a community affair. It’s like when there is joy, everyone wants to share it. And it just keeps on expanding and expanding. It’s really an amazing experience to see that many peaceful people dancing and singing who may not even know each other. They just know that there is a wedding happening in the street and it’s a good time.

There is a sense of community in Egypt. People know each other, and even if they don’t, they act as if they have an awareness of being countrymen. I saw a cab driver bump into another car. The drivers got out, raised their fists and yelled at each other and got back in their cars and kept on going. Nothing is all that serious. 

They have a saying, “Insha’allah.” Everybody says it all the time. It means, “If God wills it.” And the people really live by that. They have a deep trust in God, so nothing is ever seen as too terrible because how could it be if it’s God’s will? So, if someone arrives an hour late for lunch, well, God willed it. The same is true for very big and small things. It keeps them really grounded and humble.

So, I’m seeing all this and experiencing all this and my mind and heart are just blown wide open. Mind you, I haven’t thought of home once in all this time. I’ve been way too occupied to think at all. I’m just in the moment the entire time and bombarded with so many things. 

I’m not a Muslim, but the hotel I was at was right across from a mosque and the morning call to prayer would see me off to bed in the morning was such a haunting and sweet sound. It is the only time of day when Cairo is somewhat still. There is this voice wafting in the cool dark sky, like you, God, and that voice are all that exist in the world. 

And there were so many moments just like that where it felt like I was having this deeply intimate experience- like life was offering me all the saucy bits while the gravy from the last time was still on my chin, you know what I mean? It was like I couldn’t ever be hungry because I was being offered a buffet of such delightful and new things.

On a later tour, I remember one of the gals saying, “We’re eating Egyptian food in Egypt.” And that’s exactly what it was like. Food is food everywhere, but this was Egyptian food in Egypt.

Music is joyous everywhere, but when you are on the hotel balcony overlooking the Nile and the bouncy, pop music is coming from a felluca down below, it’s far more intriguing. 

So, a lot of what makes sacred travel special is that your mind is wide open and ready to receive all the things you overlook at home. Seriously, it’s that simple. You take you with you, and if you take all your baggage with you, you’ll probably miss all that is on offer. Sometimes that happens.

Or if you go to a place that reproduces home for your comfort, you probably won’t get what you’re after either. Here’s what I mean.

One time we decided to go to Mexico because one of my friends lived there and we thought it wasn’t fair to ask her to always come to us. So, we decided to go see the spiritual sites of the Aztecs, and Cancun was our home base.

We stayed at an all inclusive resort that was just like being at a hotel in the USA. Almost everyone we saw was from the Midwest.

The food was American and the bar was the big nightly attraction. I could have stayed home for all that, you know what I mean?

The noise and crowds take away from the ability to connect to the energy. It competes with it. You have to be able to listen and feel things to connect. So silence is imperative.

I journaled like a madman every day in Egypt because it was all coming at me so fast that I feared I would lose all the inspiration, revelations, and magic.

Funny thing though, there was no way I could. I was so present in every moment it was like it was etched on my brain.

After that first trip, I was invited to co-host with someone who does spiritual Egypt tours and jumped on that opportunity. See? Spirit has a way of giving us the experiences that we need to get to the next juncture.

And I am so glad I said yes because what I experienced, but didn’t yet understand is that only people who share that indescribable experience with you will ever be able to understand it.

I can tell you about it right now, but only the people who were there really know. It’s like you have your own language that only you know.

On my first trip to Egypt, I friend heard I was going. She had two dance students who wanted to go to Egypt, and she asked me if they could tag along with me. I said sure.

They arrived a day before me and met some English guys in the hotel bar the night before.

Well, they were there working and had been there for 6 or 8 months without female company, so they offered to be our guides and escorts while we were there and the girls agreed. 

I was thinking the British guys were the experts and would show us a lot of insider secrets, but we actually opened them up to an Egypt they’d never imagined. Of course they knew some things too, and together we made incredible memories. I remain friends with one of the guys to this day. When you’re touched that deeply, it just goes into the bones and you never forget who was with you for the ride.

So, that’s what I am talking about. Spiritual travel does that for me every time. 

It’s different now. It’s evolved. In the beginning, it was like my fix. I’d dose up and it would last me about a year, and I’d have to go again. I didn’t realize back when I first started how important it is to use what I gained and to share it. In the beginning, it was just about having an amazing time.

Over time, I also learned that the source of the fire isn’t somewhere out there. It’s inside all along.

It’s not about the sacred places. It’s within all of us. We go to the places to remember, to commune, to dig a little deeper, to discover new places no the earth and new facets within ourselves. 

People continue to have amazing experiences and learn the things I’ve learned and more.

I think we all need to go on a solo, silent, or group pilgrimage to intentionally let go of all the labels and identities that put us in boxes so that we can experience different facets of ourselves, or just be naked little babies like we were when we came into this world. 

When nobody knows you, they don’t know your family, where you went to school or what you do, it’s like there is a blank slate and you can project whatever you want to or just leave it wide open.

When you have that much freedom and choice, and then return home, it can be hard to put back on a suit of armor if that’s what you were wearing before.

It becomes hard to step back into the shoes that your mom designated for you, if you were walking in her footsteps. I think we all want to be us, and spiritual travel frees me to do that.

And when you do it with a group, the community is doing it together and supporting each other through the process.

Community is what it’s all about. There really is no point in having a luscious experience all to yourself. You gotta share it. 

So, I sort of waxed on through this and didn’t get to my points in any orderly way, so let me recap.

I said I was going to tell you how spiritual travel helps you to let go.

And it does that by stripping you of everything that makes you you. It gets you out of your comfort zone and surrounds you with love and light so that when you have the open space inside, that open heart, you can clearly see the wonder inside. 

In a lot of ways, a great pilgrimage will destroy you. It will take away all the crutches and masks and leave you bare as you were when you came into this world. It takes away all the falseness and supposed tos.

That might sound scary, and I suppose it is, but it’s also freeing. You can do anything from there. You can live intentionally and authentically. 

So what to do once you’ve let go? That’s where the real adventure begins, doesn’t it? In the hero’s journey, once the hero does what he set out to do, he has to come back home. That may be the hardest part.

You’ve had this incredible, life changing adventure. How do you return to your old life and your old self? How do you relate to people who don’t know all you’ve been through and haven’t seen all the ways you’ve morphed to become who you are now?

Like I said, do you put the armor back on and go back to business as usual?

Do you live forever as an outcast, feeling like you’ve had an amazing experience in a different world that no one else can comprehend? 

I think we’re meant to do something a little in between. We use that experience to grow us and share the fairy dust with others to inspire them to awaken too.

I don’t mean proselytizing because nothing is more annoying than that and everyone has their own path. I’m suggesting that if you have the greatest chocolate ice cream or spaghetti, what makes it even more special is to share it.

Feed it. Grow it. If we attend to it, the fire never goes out.

Moving from surviving to thriving is a process. To get there, we have to get moving. Spiritual travel does that for me like nothing else.

And we’re never done. If we’re not cycling through the process over and over, we’re stagnating, so I hope you have some special way that you make that happen.

And if you want to try spiritual travel with me, check out my website at lauragiles.org. The trips for 2023 are not finalized yet, but you can get on a waiting list and be the first to be notified when they are.

I have at least two trips per year. One is a tiny tour which is more like a retreat because we go to fewer locations and spend a lot of time talking, eating, and being in the space and with nature and each other.

The other is a proper tour. Both are small.

The big tour is not more than 16 people, so you get lots of space and personal attention.

If you’ve already been on one and are still digesting the experiences and want to make sense of the honey and hold on to it, that’s what my Tribe is for.

It’s for exploring you. You’re welcome to check that out too. It’s free and information is in the show notes.

Lots and lots and lots of people through the years have finished a tour and said, “What now? How do I keep this self-discovery going?

What do I do with all this curiosity now? How can I go back to the mundane world now that I’ve been to the mountain top?”

That’s what the Tribe is for. It’s for moving from surviving to thriving because you’ve actually seen what thriving looks like and you want to keep it.

Anyway, last week I told you all about my Twitter page. I had one lonely subscriber and asked if we could double it. Guess what it is today? I’m at 5.

I know for social media people, that’s laughable, but I consider it a win. If you’d like to check that out, I think the link is also in the show notes.

If you’ve been on a pilgrimage, let me know the highlight of your experience. I’ve shared my first journey with you, now I want to hear about yours.

Tell me in the comments. See you next week. Ciao, guys!